Big 5 Hoops: St. Joe's rewards Martelli with rout of Penn

By TERRY TOOHEY

Saturday, January 19, 2013

PHILADELPHIA -- Chris Wilson expected to go through a full workout when he showed up at the Hagan Arena for practice Friday.

Never mind that Saint Joseph's didn't get back to Hawk Hill until 4:15 in the morning following a disappointing six-point loss to No. 22 Virginia Commonwealth in overtime the night before in Richmond. Wilson expected Phil Martelli to put the Hawks through a rigorous workout in preparation for what turned out to be a 79-59 Big 5 romp over Penn at the Palestra Saturday.

But Wilson and the Hawks were in for a surprise. There would be no grueling practice, just some stretching and a walk through.

Wilson was relieved, but he also knew there was a method to Martelli's madness. He did not take it easy on the Hawks because he felt sorry for them. He was sending a clear message to a veteran team.

"We better play good Saturday," Wilson said.

Not that the Hawks (10-6 overall, 1-1 Big 5) needed any motivation against the Quakers. It was Penn that kept St. Joe's from winning the Big 5 title outright last year with an 84-80 victory over the Hawks at the Palestra.

It was Penn's second straight win over Hawks, a point that did not escape junior Ronald Roberts. He reminded fellow junior Langston Galloway that the Hawks were 0-2 against the Quakers since they arrived on campus three years ago.

"I told him, 'We'd better beat them today,'" Roberts said.

The Hawks did win, pulling away in the second half to end their brief losing skid to the Quakers (3-14, 0-3) and reward Martelli for his trust. Galloway scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as the Hawks turned an 11-point halftime lead into a 20-point victory. Galloway also pulled down nine rebounds and handed out four assists.

Roberts came up big, too, with 20 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Roberts had 11 of his points and five of his boards in the final 20 minutes. Senior Carl Jones did most of his damage in the first half, scoring 11 of his 15 points to give the Hawks a 32-21 lead at the break.

"We didn't let Thursday linger into today," Jones said. "We practiced well and I thought we played well today."

While the light practice gave Saint Joseph's the energy it needed to beat Penn for the first time since 2010, the Hawks still needed help from reserves such as Daryus Quarles and Evan Maschmeyder to get past the pesky Quakers.

Penn, which was led by Darien Nelson-Henry (17 points), fought back from a 15-8 deficit in the first half to forge a 17-17 tie and stayed within 11 points until Saint Joseph's really began to flex its muscles after the first TV timeout in the second half.

Quarles scored all seven of his points in the first half as Galloway struggled to find his shot. Maschmeyer handed out two huge assists in the opening 20 minutes, including one that set Galloway up for a 3-point field goal that broke Penn's will a bit and gave SJU a 22-17 lead.

"We had to use guys who had a little more energy," Martelli said.

Galloway and Roberts got their second wind and helped put 47 points on the board. Galloway hit a 3-pointer and Roberts threw down a thunderous dunk to extend SJU's lead to 47-31.

"This game was on our shoulders," Roberts said. "Coach put a lot of trust in us when he didn't have us practice too hard Friday. We're a mature group and when he puts trust in us the way he did Friday, we have to return the favor and that's what we did."